Thirteen beats created by the one and only James Yancey (aka Jay Dee aka J Dilla). Raw uncut Jay Dee goodness, heard first on Illa J’s debut album Yancey Boys. These beats date from 1995-98, created during Jay Dee’s tenure at Delicious Vinyl including his work on the Pharcyde’s sophomore LP, Labcabincalifornia. Madly prolific, Jay Dee left these previously untouched beats behind. They were in the Delicious Vinyl vault for a whopping thirteen years before, in a case of manifest destiny, Dilla’s younger brother John “Illa J” Yancey added his vocals to them to make the album Yancey Boys.
Now fans can get the raw material that Illa J worked with. From “We Here”‘s kraut-tastic sizzle to the bumpadelic rumpus of “R U Listenin’.” From the dusted satin of “Sounds Like Love” to the torqued out dreamscape of “All Good,” these beats are all keepers. They’re available on your favorite format (double vinyl LP, CD, or digital download) online an in stores everywhere.

If you’re in San Francisco, head over to 330 Ritch this Friday for a live performance.

If you’re in Los Angeles, head over to Amoeba Records on February 11th to see Illa J rock a free in-store performance.

To set up interviews with Illa J or Mike Ross, the CEO of Delicious Vinyl, please contact Michelle

The Background:

When Jay Dee passed away from complications relating to lupus in February 2006, he left behind an extraordinary legacy of production work, including hits for Common, Janet Jackson, and Busta Rhymes. One mother lode of previously untouched beats dates from his time working on the Pharcyde’s sophomore album, Labcabincalifornia (Delicious Vinyl, 1995). As Delicious Vinyl owner and founder Michael “Mike Floss” Ross explains: “From ’95 through ’98 Jay Dee was my go-to guy for hot beats and remixes. He was always making beats, always. So there was a select amount of tracks that he composed for me during that time, tracks as good as anything he’d done, only they never got used. When I finally met Illa J last year, I gave him a CD containing those unreleased beats.”

In a case of pure serendipity, 21 year-old Illa J had just relocated from Detroit to Los Angeles and constructed a studio built using Jay Dee’s recording equipment. He dubbed it Yancey Boys Studios in tribute to their fraternal bond. “Dilla was 12 years older than me,” Illa J says. “So back in the day in Detroit I was just a little kid, sitting on the stairs in our house, watching him make those first beats for Slum Village. I always felt my brother’s tracks and had an instinct for what I wanted to do over them.” When Illa J set to work in early ’08 recording the album, the project flowed quickly as he entered the proverbial can’t miss zone. The name of the studio rightly became the title of the finished album, Yancey Boys, which is available online and in stores everywhere on Delicious Vinyl Records.